Japan Exchange Battles Post-Merger Tension

Six months after two rival exchanges in eastern and western Japan merged to create the world’s third-biggest bourse, the chief executive of Japan Exchange Group Inc. is still feeling the tension.

Atsushi Saito recalled with some bitterness squabbles between officials of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange, not over grand business visions but over trivial details. Take for example the recent clash over whether document formats – such as the location of stamps on paper – should be unified under the Tokyo or Osaka style. (They were later consolidated under TSE format.)